thiru's blog

On 30 July 2015 at 8:30 PM Geneva time, the Chair (Bucura Ionescu, Romania) of WIPO's 22nd Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) distributed the following non-paper related to the proposal by the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) to revise the 1979 WIPO Model Law for Developing Countries on Inventions. If this language is tabled, WIPO's normative committee on patents will continue discussions on the GRULAC proposal.

On 30 July 2015 at 8:30 PM Geneva time, the Chair (Bucura Ionescu, Romania) of WIPO's 22nd Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) distributed the following non-paper as a pathway for future work addressing 1) Exceptions and Limitations to Patent Rights, 2) Quality of Patents, Including Opposition Systems, 3) Patents and Health, 4) Confidentiality of Communications between clients and their patent advisors and 5) Transfer of technology. The SCP is WIPO"s main normative committee dealing with patents.

28 July 2015
WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP)
Written Statement of Knowledge Ecology International on Patents and Health

As the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is currently reported to be in the final stages of negotiation, it is both appropriate and urgent that this Committee is addressing the topic of patents and health.

On 29 July 2015, Australia provided the following response to the proposal by the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) to revise the 1979 WIPO Model Law for Developing Countries on Inventions.

Australian Delegation Proposal

The Secretariat prepare a study on:

1) experiences of how developing countries and least developed countries (LDCs) have implemented the patent model law; or

Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) delivered the following intervention on 29 July 2015 during WIPO discussions on the proposal by the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) to revise the 1979 WIPO Model Law for Developing Countries on Inventions.

KEI statement on GRULAC proposal (SCP/22/5)
WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP)
29 July 2015

Proposal: Engage Member States in the Revision of the 1979 WIPO Model Law for Developing Countries on Inventions

India delivered this lengthy, nuanced intervention on inventive step on 28 July 2015 citing the US Supreme Court observations on a person skilled in the art (PSIA), the KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex, Inc. decision on obviousness as applied to patent claims, the IPAB Roche decision (in relation to inventive step) and jurisprudence from the House of Lords on inventive step.

India’s Intervention on a study on inventive step (SCP/22/3) at SCP/22

The World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) Twenty-Second session of the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) is taking place from 27 July 2015 to 31 July 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland. The prior session of the Committee (November 2014) ended in deadlock. Ultimately, patents and health proved to be the deciding factor.

On 20 March 2015, the European Union published a position paper on intellectual property outlining its priorities for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). At the time of publication of this position paper, the EU noted that "the U.S. has not yet formally identified the areas of interest that it could consider as priorities."

My presentation today will address creating a positive agenda for TTIP focusing on the following six themes

1. Cooperation in funding R&D as a public good
2. Promoting the transparency of drug development costs, revenues, and prices
3. Standards for putting government funded research data and articles into free public archives

The World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) Twenty-Second session of the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) will be convened from 27 July 2015 to 31 July 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland. For consideration of the Committee, the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) have submitted a proposal entitled, Revision of 1979 WIPO Model Law for Developing Countries on Inventions (SCP/22/5).

On 6 July 2015 and 8 July 2015, the World Trade Organization (WTO) conducted a trade policy review of the European Union. All members of the WTO are subject to review under the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM). As noted by the WTO secretariat, the "basis for the review is a report by the WTO Secretariat and a report by the Government of the European Union" (Source: Trade Policy Review - European Union, July 2015).

On Thursday, 2 July 2015, the United States of America presented the following intervention on preservation in the context of copyright limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives. The following statement was captured by the WIPO streamtext.

UNITED STATES: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The United States is pleased to participate in the discussion of preservation, a very important topic for libraries and archives.

During WIPO's discussions of copyright limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives at the 30th session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR30, the Chair (Martin Moscoso) presented a non-paper, intended to guide discussions.